You don’t need me to tell you The Avengers has been HUGE. A billion dollars box office in NINETEEN days. To put that in to perspective, it took Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight six months to reach the billion dollar mark. Marvel/Disney are dancing all the way to the bank, but what happens now? It’ll be three years until Avengers 2 if we’re lucky, what shall we do in the meantime? Worry not, Marvel has some plans (apparently)…

First up, check out this super high-res pic of The Hulk. Go on. Click and zoom. You can get in so close you can see arm hairs and skin pores! I might be the only one who thinks this is kind of detail is brilliant…

So, anyway, back to the job at hand – rumour has it The Hulk will once again be getting his own movie, this in spite of two previous entries that, let’s be kind, didn’t really work. What’s changed Marvel’s mind? Well, the reception to Hulk’s wilful destruction in The Avengers has a lot to do with it. Marvel Entertainment’s President of Consumer Products for North America (read: toy salesman), Paul Glitter, recently said “His sales are up in a major way. We repositioned him from where he was always misunderstood to now depicting him in a more heroic and aspirational manner.” Hm. I think it had more to do with him smashing the shit out of stuff without consequence. Before we get all excited about another Hulk film, remember that Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President and practically a god, said this – “We’re gonna be smart about it and play it out. There are no plans right now to do another Hulk. Hulk might be just the special guest in Avengers movies, who knows?” So let’s just put this down as excited speculation for now.

Iron Man 3 started shooting in North Carolina today! And in more good news, it’s said that Marvel/Disney have upped the already considerable budget of $140 million to $200 million to better compete with The Avengers and to set the benchmark for better and better Marvel movies. So no pressure on director Shane Black then.

Luckily, previous Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director, Jon Favreau, will be acting as producer on the new film. He has this to say – “I was just talking to Shane Black and Downey and look, I think it’s a really smart way to go. After Avengers, you want to start with something really bold and inspired, and if you’ve ever seen Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang you’ve seen that when Downey and Shane get together, interesting and unexpected things happen, and I’m happy to see that it’s taking a bit of a tonal shift from The Avengers and it’s going to be something completely different and exciting, and I’m happy to be a part of it. Shane and Robert definitely have an original point of view and an original take on the character, and I think it delves deeper into what makes Tony Stark tick, and plays on the unexpected original unpredictable quality of the character that I think fans gravitate to.”

That’s not all the Iron Man 3 news either – James Badge Dale, last seen in The Grey, has signed on to play a character called Eric Savin. In the comics Savin is an officer in the Army who stands on a landmine and is resurrected with cybernetic enhancements, becoming the cyborg Coldblood. Of course, there’s no word yet on whether this happens in the film or if it’s just set up for a future plot in the series. Another wait and see scenario.

Is Edgar Wright finally getting the chance to make Ant-Man? Things are far from certain, but they appear to be moving in the right direction. Wright recently announced he would be directing the third and final part of the “Blood and Ice Cream trilogy”, The World’s End, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Shooting is due to being in September for a spring 2013 release. Where does this leave Ant-Man, considering Wright was quoted as saying he’d like to start shooting this year? Well, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he could shoot both at the same time, but more likely he’ll go back to back on the projects, focussing on The World’s End before getting Ant-Man out the door in 2014.

And before we go, here’s the current schedule for Marvel Studios latest films –

Iron Man 3 on 3rd May 2013

Thor 2 on 15th November 2013

Captain America 2 on 4th April 2014

Untitled Marvel Movie No.1 on 16th May 2014.

Feel free to let us know what you think about the news and latest rumours down below.